The invention herein pertains to the mounting of drawers in cabinets such as kitchen or bathrooms cabinets and particularly pertains to a method for converting drawers with side mount guides to under mount guides using a unique cabinet rear wall bracket.
Kitchen and bathroom cabinets are usually partially assembled in a factory or shop and are then delivered to a house or other building job site for final assembly and installation. Most cabinet shops utilize side mount drawer guides which are relatively easy to install and inexpensive to purchase. Standard side mount drawer guides are available in a variety of designs and materials such as molded plastic, stamped metal and the like. While side mount drawer guides are satisfactory for most cabinets, under mount cabinet drawer guides are generally recognized as being of higher quality, having smoother performance and providing more stability and durability for the cabinet. Under mount drawer guides are generally more expensive and usually require the installer to use L-shaped metal, plastic or other brackets which are attached such as by screws or mounting lugs to the rear cabinet wall while the front end of the under mount drawer guides are affixed to the front or faceplate of the cabinet with screws or other fasteners.
Home buyers and remodelers in recent years have become increasingly discriminating and demand higher quality appliances, accessories, cabinets and other fixtures. Thus, cabinet installers are often faced with contractors and home purchasers that require the installation of under mount drawer guides for kitchen, bathroom, utility rooms and otherwise for a higher quality and better performing cabinet.
As partially assembled cabinets are usually delivered to a job site, the installer is faced with the labor intensive task of removing the pre-installed side mount drawer hardware including guides and installing under mount drawer guides. This requires the mounting of new brackets on the rear cabinet wall which usually entails drilling apertures in the rear cabinet wall to accommodate new under mount guide brackets. This is a difficult and tedious undertaking as the rear wall bracket for the new guides must be precisely placed or else the drawer will not slide properly, or will cause the guide to bend and wobble during operation. Often the rear wall is difficult to reach once partially installed requiring superior manual dexterity and skill to locate and attach rear wall brackets for the under mount guides.
Thus, with the problems and disadvantages of conventional side mount cabinet drawer guides and the difficulties encountered in removing and converting to under mount cabinet drawer guides, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide an inexpensive rear cabinet wall bracket which will fit standard, pre-drilled apertures in the rear wall as used for conventional side mount rear wall brackets.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a rear cabinet wall bracket for an under mount cabinet drawer guide which is simple to install and inexpensive to purchase.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a method for utilizing a standard under mount cabinet drawer guide assembly which includes an under mount drawer guide attachment slidably connectable to the rear cabinet wall bracket of the invention.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a method for converting a cabinet drawer with a side mount drawer guide to an under mount drawer guide which requires little time and can be easily learned by inexperienced cabinet installers at the job site.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed description is set forth below.
The aforesaid and other objectives are realized by providing a under mount drawer guide bracket which is formed from a polymeric material to accommodate conventional pre-drilled rear cabinet wall apertures to allow conversion of the cabinet drawers having side mount guides to under mount guides. The bracket includes a pair of mounting lugs which extend from the bracket rear face for positioning in existing rear cabinet wall apertures. The mounting lugs of the bracket are offset from the centerline to accommodate connection with the under mount guide. The face of the bracket includes a pair of opposing guide supports and a lateral channel with a stop for receiving a standard drawer guide attachment for slidable movement therealong.
The method of converting a cabinet drawer having a side mount drawer guides includes the steps of removing the side mount guides from the drawer, removing the cabinet rear wall bracket, attaching under mount drawer guides to the drawer and cabinet faceplate, attaching brackets with offset mounting lugs to the rear cabinet wall utilizing existing apertures, and affixing the under mount guides to the rear cabinet wall brackets to allow the guides to laterally move and adjust for proper alignment and smooth drawer operation.